Who to call if an AT hiker goes missing?

[TheYoungOne]

Don't panic folks, its just for a book I'm writing.

Say someone is hiking the AT in PA. Dayhike to the Pinnicle, and they never came back, who would run the search for the missing person?

That area is a mix of PA state game land and State parks. Would the search be run by the PA game wardens, PA state police, the County PD or maybe police from the closes large town like Hamburg or Allentown?

Anyone have any experience with searching for a missing person in the woods. If I knew the area well I would jump on the opportunity to volunteer to help.

[Skidsteer]

Rather than try to keep up with the local jurisdiction info, I carry the number for ATC law enforcement.

(304) 535-6171

[vamelungeon]

In an emergency it's hard to go wrong by calling 911. If you get the wrong agency chances are they will direct you to the proper authorities.

[Skidsteer]

Good point but I always forget the number.

[Del Q]

I used to be on a search & rescue team, happened to be in Philadelphia, our team would have responded to something in the Pocono's. SAR is a skill, have seen search dogs do some pretty amazing things.

If you are writing a book, pretty simple but really important, a text message will go through when a cell phone call will not.

I keep all State Police numbers programmed into my phone and others like the ATC Enforcement number, etc, etc.

[GoldenBear]

I asked pretty much this same question a few years ago, in order to tell Shuttle who to call if *I* go missing -- and I hike a lot in Pennsylvania.

The general consensus is to call 911 if you have a good idea where the person was in the last day or so. This is true even if you are hundreds of miles away from where that person should be. The 911 system was developed for rapid inter-agency response to trouble wherever it may be.

If you have little or no idea where the missing person might be, then the ATC would be the best place to start. They would be able to use their resources to (relatively) quickly determine where the person last was; and from there a more detailed search could occur. I know it would be painful to have to wait several days before knowing that a specific search has commenced, but that's the price hikers are imposing on others if they fail to consistently communicate with family and friends.

[4eyedbuzzard]

In the real world you call 911 or local law enforcement and people usually get found one way or another by LEO or S&R. In a book the local cops are either incompetent or in on an abduction for ritualistic sacrifice or something, and you call the BAU in Quantico and they track down the unsub - or in the event they've crossed over into another universe you call Olivia.

[fiddlehead]

Lenhartsville is very close to the Pinnacle.
In fact you can get there in one mile by using Blue Rocks campground and a trail from there.
I did it once on Christmas Day.
However, I don't know if Lehnartsville has a police dept.
They probably have a volunteer fire dept.
But I bet 911 people would know.
That (911) is certainly who I would trust to know what rescue people would be closest.

[nyrslr21]

In the real world you call 911 or local law enforcement and people usually get found one way or another by LEO or S&R. In a book the local cops are either incompetent or in on an abduction for ritualistic sacrifice or something, and you call the BAU in Quantico and they track down the unsub - or in the event they've crossed over into another universe you call Olivia.

Hahaha that damn Massive Dynamic is behind everything!

[gram cracker]

I know it's a bit off topic. I consider a SPOT transmitter as part of my essential gear. At worst, it can leave electronic breadcrumbs family or a trusted friend can see on their computer. You can send OK, Help or 911 signals to their cell phone, email or both. If 911 is sent, SPOT takes care of it.

[Hooch]

Who ya gonna call?

[img]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...s_logo.svg.png[/img]

[gumball]

We had this happen in VA--lost a hiker who didn't show up in very cold conditions at the shelter. Waited until the next day, hiked out, still no sign. I believe we called 911, who connected us with the appropriate authorities--who eventually found the hiker, later in the day.

Gum

[Rain Man]

Several have mentioned calling 911 with the expectation that they would direct you to the correct 911 jurisdiction. Is that true these days? It certainly did not used to be the case.

Rain Man

.

[4eyedbuzzard]

Several have mentioned calling 911 with the expectation that they would direct you to the correct 911 jurisdiction. Is that true these days? It certainly did not used to be the case.

Rain Man

.

It's generally pretty good with GPS enabled phones. But if you're in an area where cell towers are near state borders the system can get messed up. It's always good practice to make sure the 911 operator knows what state you're in when calling from areas where this could happen. We get a lot of confusion here on the NH / VT border with this due to having towers on both sides of the river, or just one tower that serves an area in both states.

[Wise Old Owl]

The police would make that determination - someone would call 911 and the initial questioning would launch the team.

http://www.psarc.org/index.php?optio...d=36&Itemid=15

For Emergency Dispatch call:
1-800-MED-STAT (1-800-633-7828)

[Wise Old Owl]

It's generally pretty good with GPS enabled phones. But if you're in an area where cell towers are near state borders the system can get messed up. It's always good practice to make sure the 911 operator knows what state you're in when calling from areas where this could happen. We get a lot of confusion here on the NH / VT border with this due to having towers on both sides of the river, or just one tower that serves an area in both states.

The towers have nothing to do with borders... where did you come up with that? 911 systems and dispatch are extended well past all boundaries. The 911 system here is mounted on many towers and exstends into the next state. If you are referring to cell phone coverage - National system national company. - poor service occurs due to terrain or towers that have been knocked out from storms.

The current phones send a gps location and the smrs make a triangulation and signal strength today. What you may be refering to is the olld analog 900 MHz System that is defunked. See Here

http://searchengineland.com/cell-pho...-the-map-14790

[Don H]

I live just a few miles from the state border. I have called 911 in one state and got the emergency center in the other state. Most agencies will ID themselves when they answer but it's best to verify you have the correct agency. What happens sometimes is that an address in one agencies area corresponds or is the same as an address in the neighboring agencies area which leads to confusion.

Of course when you're hiking you probably don't know what county you're in. I would think that if you report that you're on the AT and your relative location to a road (such as on the AT about 2 miles south of PA Rt.611) you should get help sent to the correct location.

[Bronk]

Having worked with this kind of thing behind the scenes I can tell you what I would do. I'd start by reporting the person missing at the local law enforcement agency where the person was last seen. Many police departments will not take a report over the telephone because they have no way of verifying who you are, so you will need to go there in person if at all possible.

When you are making this first report, let the officer know where you think they might be...giving a range, ie they started here and were supposed to end up there. At this point you run a serious risk of them trying to dodge the report, ie they might say something like "Well, if you think they're at X you should probably report it to the police department there." Insist on a formal report and to have them entered into the FBI database as a missing person...that last is very important, and there is a way for you to verify that it has been done. Otherwise you might end up playing this game all day and night before you find an agency willing to take the report...ie every agency you contact may try to pawn you off on someone else...this will waste a lot of time.

Be persistent. Some agencies will take a report, enter them in the FBI computer as missing and then punch their time card and go home. Make it clear when you file your report that you would like a search initiated and ask for details on what they plan to do once the report has been made.

Once you've got your initial report made, make sure they are following up on it. Call other police agencies within the area you believe the person may be found and find out if they have been contacted by the original agency you filed your report with. Ask them to look in the FBI computer and see if your person is listed as a missing person. It may take a couple of hours for them to show up in the computer, but if several hours go by and they are not showing up, its time to call back the original agency and ask them when they will be entering the person in the FBI computers, or if necessary try to convince another agency to enter them in as a missing person.

Like I said, be persistent, and make it clear to them that you don't just want to file a report and hope for the best. Ask them to tell you specifically what they plan to do to find the missing person.

[shelterbuilder]

There is, in fact, a procedure for just this sort of occurance.

I'm in the process of writing a shelter chairman's manual (in anticipation of stepping down from that position at the end of 2013), and one of the areas that I wanted to include was SAR at/near the shelters. The procedure is the same for the entire length of the AT in Pa. (and presumably the entire trail): CALL 911. No matter what the emergency, call 911. They will have the resources to direct your call to the appropriate agency for that area, and most of the time, they will be able to zero in on your GPS coordinates from your cell phone signal (or so I'm told).

In Pa., it falls to DCNR to actually run the SAR operation (this is a delegated responsibility as per the Memorandum of Understanding that is currently in force between NPS, ATC, and the various state agencies and local mintaining clubs), but in reality, they will coordinate with as many groups (fire, ambulance corps, SAR, ATC, NPS, and local maintaining clubs) as necessary to get the job done. Most of the time, the only group that will have first-hand knowledge of the terrain and the trails will be the local maintaining club - the other groups will pull out their road maps and may not be able to find the quickest way in to a given location. (Four out of the seven shelters maintained by BMECC have short-cuts that make access a LOT easier than hiking in over the AT, but only someone who has the local "ground-knowledge" could find these easily.)

For all of the complaints about cell phones in the woods, when you absolutely, positively have to get help, a cell phone can be a Godsend - even though there ARE places along the trail where they don't work (like the Rausch Gap Shelter area).

Dial 911.

[rocketsocks]

Don't panic folks, its just for a book I'm writing.

Say someone is hiking the AT in PA. Day Hike to the Pinnacle, and they never came back, who would run the search for the missing person?

That area is a mix of PA state game land and State parks. Would the search be run by the PA game wardens, PA state police, the County PD or maybe police from the closes large town like Hamburg or Allentown?

Anyone have any experience with searching for a missing person in the woods. If I knew the area well I would jump on the opportunity to volunteer to help.

So I'm curious,what kinda book are you writing exactly? "how to guide","who done it"...Love story?.......